The Politics Thread 2020

[Lionator]

The Labour left complained for four years about unfair treatment of Corbyn by the press.

 

Then as soon as a paper completely misquotes the new leader, they jump straight onto it without reading the whole statement.

 

a) He's a party leader, he cannot in any way support political violence if he wants a shot at power unlike his predecessor. 

 

b) He said tearing down the statue in that manner was completely wrong then went on a 2-3 minute ride about how the statue shouldn't have been there in the first place.  

[Voll Blau]

22 minutes ago, Lionator said:

The Labour left complained for four years about unfair treatment of Corbyn by the press.

 

Then as soon as a paper completely misquotes the new leader, they jump straight onto it without reading the whole statement.

 

a) He's a party leader, he cannot in any way support political violence if he wants a shot at power unlike his predecessor. 

 

b) He said tearing down the statue in that manner was completely wrong then went on a 2-3 minute ride about how the statue shouldn't have been there in the first place.  

He hasn't been misquoted. It's just that people have failed to read beyond the headline, as per usual in this day and age...

[Voll Blau]

Prioritising saving face again over providing simple factual information which could help people make an informed decision about how to act in their own best interests. What is wrong with these morons?

[UniFox21]

Think I've just heard one of the worst questions of all of these briefings. 

 

The journalist referenced that Boris said the UK isn't systematically racist, then asked how that could be with more BAME people are dying of covid 19. 

 

I genuinely don't understand where they get these people from

Edited 8 June 2020 by UniFox21

[Chocolate Teapot]

On 06/06/2020 at 20:23, Lionator said:

 

 

 

Interesting.

 

Polls also now putting starmer on a par with boris as preferred leader. Once brexit is out the way and we can get on with things it could be very interesting.

[nnfox]

4 minutes ago, Abrasive fox said:

Interesting.

 

Polls also now putting starmer on a par with boris as preferred leader. Once brexit is out the way and we can get on with things it could be very interesting.

It's fair to say that the conservatives now have an opposition leader that is far more capable of holding the government to account.

 

And Starmer will have Boris on toast every week in PMQs.

 

You are correct, things are going to get interesting.

[oxford blue]

2 hours ago, UniFox21 said:

 

The journalist referenced that Boris said the UK isn't systematically racist, then how come more BAME people are dying of covid 19. 

 

I genuinely don't understand where they get these people from

How does not it follow the UK is racist (as you imply) because more BAME are dying from Covid 19? (it may be the case but I don't understand how you can infer from Covid 19 statistics.)

 

For example Middlesborough is one of the towns with a high infection/ death rate compared to the rest of England. Yet Park End' 's population, one of the boroughs most affected,  is 97% white.

 

It has also been suggested Vitamin D levels  can help prevent the virus - deficiency has been linked to increased risk of viral infections. BAME people generally have lower levels of this vitamin (although it actually isn't a vitamin). 

[UniFox21]

34 minutes ago, oxford blue said:

How does not it follow the UK is racist (as you imply) because more BAME are dying from Covid 19? (it may be the case but I don't understand how you can infer from Covid 19 statistics.)

 

For example Middlesborough is one of the towns with a high infection/ death rate compared to the rest of England. Yet Park End' 's population, one of the boroughs most affected,  is 97% white.

 

It has also been suggested Vitamin D levels  can help prevent the virus - deficiency has been linked to increased risk of viral infections. BAME people generally have lower levels of this vitamin (although it actually isn't a vitamin). 

I think you've interpreted my post wrongly there, potentially through my wording. The journalist was asking that if the UK isn't racist as implied by Boris, then why were BAME people dying more frequently.

 

And it was that question I found astonishing. As you say, Vitamin D deficiency and insulin sensitivity are potential reasons behind the higher mortality.  It was the shock that a journalist was implying the country is systematically racist due to a disease proven to have a more prominent impact in BAME people, was affecting them more. 

[StanSP]

£900k to be spent on re-painting and re-branding the PM's plane 

[Sampson]

Got to say, schools aside where I think he's being held hostage by the unions, I've been quietly impressed with Starmer so far.

 

It wasn't a particularly difficult job to follow a lacklustre predecessor, but he is putting across a greater sense of realism and less pie-in-the-sky crap already that will make most people a lot more comfortable with the Labour party again.

[Dahnsouff]

8 minutes ago, StanSP said:

£900k to be spent on re-painting and re-branding the PM's plane 

Removing racist slogans 

[leicsmac]

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/theres-still-a-huge-partisan-gap-in-how-americans-see-discrimination/

 

Interesting article highlighting how stark the divide is in the US between Dems and Repubs on this matter...and between older and younger Repubs, too.

[StanSP]

14 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Removing racist slogans 

All slogans matter! 

[RoboFox]

47 minutes ago, StanSP said:

£900k to be spent on re-painting and re-branding the PM's plane 

 

 

 

(seriously, BoJo's gone beyond parody at this point)

 

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53086042

 

Okay, Bolton is still a warmongering sociopath, but I honestly don't doubt very much of what he's written here at all. Not sure how much of an effect on the landscape it will have come November, though.

[Innovindil]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53080428

 

This is exactly why people have trust issues surrounding government policies that hand out "free" cash. If those figures are anywhere near nationwide then a simple defense of "it's only a minority" should hold no weight at all. 

 

I'd say go get em HMRC, but won't hold my breath. 

[StanSP]

Oh come on! 

 

 

[StanSP]

26 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53080428

 

This is exactly why people have trust issues surrounding government policies that hand out "free" cash. If those figures are anywhere near nationwide then a simple defense of "it's only a minority" should hold no weight at all. 

 

I'd say go get em HMRC, but won't hold my breath. 

I suspect there'll be a lot of investigation in to where funds went. And rightly so. I remember hearing somewhere that if businesses are found to have flaunted the rules and blatantly committed fraud then they will become blacklisted. 

 

It's like investigating where benefit funds went for Grenfell disaster and people shamelessly defrauded that funding as well. 

[Voll Blau]

13 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Oh come on! 

 

 

 

Between this and Johnson claiming not to have been told about Rashford until the day he had to act on it, someone really needs to start upping the amount of cocaine in their advisers' corn flakes. Dozy gits.

[David Guiza]

2 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

 

Between this and Johnson claiming not to have been told about Rashford until the day he had to act on it, someone really needs to start upping the amount of cocaine in their advisers' corn flakes. Dozy gits.

Sounds like they need that TV package that they give to Hugh in one of the early episode of the Thick of It. 

[Finnaldo]

47 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53080428

 

This is exactly why people have trust issues surrounding government policies that hand out "free" cash. If those figures are anywhere near nationwide then a simple defense of "it's only a minority" should hold no weight at all. 

 

I'd say go get em HMRC, but won't hold my breath. 

My mate works for a place in Leicester. They were put on furlough and then asked to log on and do ‘small tasks‘ in the week. A bit later they were then told them who did more work would be ‘rewarded’ after lockdown, I interpreted that as thinly veiled threats of redundancy for those who don’t stay in line and offers of protection for those who do. I believe it’s a minimum wage role so they’re ultimately using this as an opportunity to have their employees working on less than they’re legally obliged to pay. 
 

He’s got a career a lot more substantial lined up and his training starts later this year, this was little more than a stop gap job so he’s said he’s planning to take two weeks off before his training starts, hand in his notice and then report them for breach of furlough. 
 

But yes, I imagine furlough has been broken in a few instances, some maybe a bit more benign than others however.

Edited 18 June 2020 by Finnaldo

[Voll Blau]

4 minutes ago, David Guiza said:

Sounds like they need that TV package that they give to Hugh in one of the early episode of the Thick of It. 

At least he's heard of Game of Thrones I guess. Very "with it" of him.

[Jon the Hat]

18 hours ago, RoboFox said:

 

 

 

(seriously, BoJo's gone beyond parody at this point)

 

The plane needs painting, and this is what it costs to paint a plane.  What colour it is painted has little effect on the cost.

I think it makes sense that our Prime Minister has a UK branded plane.  Most other countries have this.

[Jon the Hat]

9 minutes ago, Finnaldo said:

My mate works for a place in Leicester. They were put on furlough and then asked to log on and do ‘small tasks‘ in the week. A bit later they were then told them who did more work would be ‘rewarded’ after lockdown, I interpreted that as thinly veiled threats of redundancy for those who don’t stay in line and offers of protection for those who do. I believe it’s a minimum wage role so they’re ultimately using this as an opportunity to have their employees working on less than they’re legally obliged to pay. 
 

He’s got a career a lot more substantial lined up and his training starts later this year, this was little more than a stop gap job so he’s said he’s planning to take two weeks off before his training starts, hand in his notice and then report them for breach of furlough. 
 

But yes, I imagine furlough has been broken in a few instances, some maybe a bit more benign than others however.

It doesn't matter really.  The scheme will be succesful in some cases, and not in others, but it needed to be delivered in a matter of days, and I think they did a very good job - if anything the economic measures have been the big success story.

[Finnaldo]

11 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

It doesn't matter really.  The scheme will be succesful in some cases, and not in others, but it needed to be delivered in a matter of days, and I think they did a very good job - if anything the economic measures have been the big success story.

That was nothing critical of government policy. Furlough is one of the few areas of pandemic response the government succeeded in, in my opinion. 
 

My point is about rotten employers, who should face the consequences of ultimately taking advantage of the scheme. I acknowledge they’ll be employees who voluntarily do parts of work just to ensure it ticks over which are an exception of course. 
 

That said, I can’t see the government being particularly zealous of small to mid-sized business who broke furlough rules given the state the economy will be in. 

Edited 18 June 2020 by Finnaldo